Well said. “Pauline Christianity” deeply annoys me - making Paul the primary foundation of one’s Christian faith instead of the Tanakh is why so many Christians can seem so crazy so often.
Well said. “Pauline Christianity” deeply annoys me - making Paul the primary foundation of one’s Christian faith instead of the Tanakh is why so many Christians can seem so crazy so often.
As a deist, I have great sympathy for allegorical interpretations of the Bible. But even still, you'd have to reject biblical inerrancy (and therefore, divine revelation) as a meaningless and inaccurate concept. You can't be a freethinker and an orthodox Christian at the same time, at least that's my view.
For sure, I understand your perspective. Your version of Christianity would be very agreeable to me. But I'm making a counter-argument that your beliefs aren't really "true" Christianity if you reject the following: the divinity of Jesus, miracles, the resurrection, the Virgin Birth, Original Sin, biblical inerrancy, etc. If you reject those dogmas, your position might be better described as "deism" and not "Christianity." Especially if you don't go to church, then it can't be called Christianity.
Well said. “Pauline Christianity” deeply annoys me - making Paul the primary foundation of one’s Christian faith instead of the Tanakh is why so many Christians can seem so crazy so often.
The Old Testament promotes many evil ideas, such as genocide, slavery, and warfare against non-believers (take the Elijah story, for example).
That’s a standard fundamentalist misreading of the texts.
As a deist, I have great sympathy for allegorical interpretations of the Bible. But even still, you'd have to reject biblical inerrancy (and therefore, divine revelation) as a meaningless and inaccurate concept. You can't be a freethinker and an orthodox Christian at the same time, at least that's my view.
I am not an orthodox Christian.
For sure, I understand your perspective. Your version of Christianity would be very agreeable to me. But I'm making a counter-argument that your beliefs aren't really "true" Christianity if you reject the following: the divinity of Jesus, miracles, the resurrection, the Virgin Birth, Original Sin, biblical inerrancy, etc. If you reject those dogmas, your position might be better described as "deism" and not "Christianity." Especially if you don't go to church, then it can't be called Christianity.
There is no “true Christianity.”